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City of Chowchilla · Statewide General Election

Mayor of Chowchilla

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On the ballot

This person would serve as Chowchilla's directly elected Mayor -- one seat on a five-member City Council (the Mayor, elected citywide at large, plus four Council Members elected by district) that sets the budget, land use, and city ordinances for this Madera County city of 19,039 residents (2020 Census). The Mayor serves a 2-year term, half the length of a Council Member's 4-year term; the Council selects one of its own district members as Mayor Pro Tem each December.

Two sitting Chowchilla City Council members are running against each other for Mayor: incumbent Kelly Smith, seeking another term after winning the city's first direct at-large mayoral election, and Waseem Ahmed, a Council member since 2014 who has twice previously served as Mayor when the office was still selected by the Council itself.

Chowchilla's Mayor is one seat on a five-member City Council -- the Mayor, elected citywide at large, plus four Council Members elected by district -- that sets the budget, land use, and municipal ordinances for this Madera County city of 19,039 residents (2020 Census), about 16 miles northwest of the county seat. The Mayor's term is 2 years, half the length of a Council Member's 4-year term. The Council chooses one of its own district members as Mayor Pro Tem each December.

Until 2024, Chowchilla's Mayor was selected by the City Council from among its own members each year, the same way the Council still picks its Mayor Pro Tem. The city switched to a directly, citywide elected Mayor as part of a broader shift to by-district Council elections (Ordinance No. 521-24), and Kelly Smith won that first direct mayoral election for the 2025-2026 term. This November decides who holds the office for the next 2-year term.

Kelly Smith

Kelly Smith is Chowchilla's sitting Mayor, seeking reelection after winning the city's first direct at-large mayoral race. A multi-generational Chowchilla family, he moved to the city in 1995; earlier in his career he worked as a welder before 35 years in sales and distribution management, first with PepsiCo and then with Laura Scudder's Potato Chip Company, and he recently retired as a Warehouse Manager II with the State of California. Before winning the direct election, he served as Mayor Pro Tem (2023) and Mayor (2024) under the city's old council-selection system. He names economic development, job creation, community safety, and strategic planning as his priorities, and sits on several regional boards including the Madera County RAN Board and the Citizens Prison Advisory Committee.

Strengths

A full term already served as the city's first directly elected Mayor, plus two more years leading the Council under the prior council-selection system.

Trade-offs

His record as the incumbent is the record voters are being asked to extend or end; the county's list shows no independent 2026-cycle news coverage evaluating it.

Keep in mind

He is the only candidate who has actually held the directly-elected version of this office, so this is largely a referendum on the two years since the switch.

Waseem Ahmed

Waseem Ahmed has served on the Chowchilla City Council since 2014, after chairing the city's Planning Commission. Under the city's old council-selection system he was chosen Mayor twice (2016, 2020) and Mayor Pro Tem three times (2015, 2019, 2024) by his fellow Council members -- more total time leading the Council, across those selected terms, than Smith's two years. He holds a business administration degree from San Francisco State University, was raised in Concord, California, and currently chairs the Madera County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO); his other civic service includes two terms as president of the Chowchilla District Chamber of Commerce board, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Citizens Advisory Board, the Park and Recreation Commission, and a term chairing the Madera County Transportation Commission.

Strengths

The longer Council tenure of the two -- twelve years versus Smith's roughly four -- plus prior Mayoral service of his own, twice selected for the role by colleagues.

Trade-offs

Both his prior Mayoral terms came under the old council-selection system, not a direct citywide vote -- this is his first time putting the office to voters.

Keep in mind

A win would open his own Council seat; the county's list shows no one currently positioned to succeed him there.

Source review: Strong (89/100) · 9 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • votemadera.com (opens in a new tab)Madera County Elections Division -- own "Contest/Candidate Proof List" for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Election (posted 8/12/2026 5:10 PM): Contest 5120 (Mayor, ON BALLOT) lists Waseem Ahmed and Kelly Smith (the sitting incumbent); Contest 5121 (Councilmember District 1, ON BALLOT, no incumbent) lists Dennis Haworth and Chad Middleton; Contest 5122 (Councilmember District 2, ON BALLOT, no incumbent) lists Josh D. Moore as the sole qualified candidate -- marked ON BALLOT, not NOT ON BALLOT, distinguishing it from the document's genuinely cancelled single-candidate races.
  • cityofchowchilla.org (opens in a new tab)City of Chowchilla -- own "City Council" page (live fetch): states the Council "consists of five members total: four are elected by district to overlapping four-year terms, and one mayor is elected at large to a 2-year term," and that the Council selects its own Mayor Pro Tem each December. Names the current roster (Mayor Kelly Smith; Council Members Jeff Troost, Waseem Ahmed, Ray Barragan, John Chavez).
  • cityofchowchilla.org (opens in a new tab)City of Chowchilla -- own "District Elections" page: documents the city's 2024 transition to by-district Council elections under Ordinance No. 521-24.
  • maderatribune.com (opens in a new tab)Madera Tribune -- own published "Notice of Election" legal notice for the City of Chowchilla: independently confirms the same three offices up this cycle (Council District 1, Council District 2, Mayor At-Large), the nomination-period dates, and the standard Section 10229 boilerplate -- not a record that a cancellation happened.
  • cityofchowchilla.org (opens in a new tab)City of Chowchilla -- Aug. 11, 2026 City Council agenda packet (read in full via pypdf), which includes the July 28, 2026 meeting minutes quoting City Clerk McClendon on the routine nomination-period-extension mechanism. No election-cancellation or Section 10229 agenda item appears in either the Aug. 11 or the Aug. 25, 2026 packet (also checked in full).
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Chowchilla, California": used narrowly for the dated 2020 Census population figure (19,039) -- does not cover the 2026 election.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer searches attempted for all five Chowchilla candidates (Waseem Ahmed, Kelly Smith, Dennis Haworth, Chad Middleton, Josh D. Moore): every query returned only a blank/challenge response, not usable results, the same recurring access-block pattern documented elsewhere in this dataset. No Madera County-specific NetFile/eRetrieval campaign-finance portal was found linked from either the county's or the city's own election pages.
  • cityofchowchilla.org (opens in a new tab)City of Chowchilla -- own biography page for Council Member Waseem Ahmed: on the Council since 2014 after chairing the Planning Commission; twice selected Mayor by council colleagues (2016, 2020) and three times Mayor Pro Tem (2015, 2019, 2024) under the city's pre-2025 council-selection system; business administration degree from San Francisco State University; current chair of the Madera County LAFCO.
  • cityofchowchilla.org (opens in a new tab)City of Chowchilla -- own biography page for Mayor Kelly Smith: the sitting Mayor, elected to a 2025-2026 term in the city's first direct at-large mayoral election; previously Mayor Pro Tem (2023) and Mayor (2024) under the old council-selection system; a multi-generational Chowchilla resident; a former welder turned 35-year sales/distribution manager (PepsiCo, then Laura Scudder's), recently retired as a State of California Warehouse Manager II.

Last updated September 2, 2026.